“In the end, it’s not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away” – Shing Xiong

Friday, June 28, 2013

Meet the Medicinal Herbs at the Learning Garden

below is an article I submitted to the school's blog to promote the Learning Garden:

College, work, home…life runs at a furious pace and
traveling from one location to the other is filled with thinking, studying,
planning.For every class or project
“there’s an app for that,” and for every relationship there is a role. Where
does a person replenish the Qi drained away by all this busyness?

We learn that postnatal Qi comes from food/drink and from
air and think about our diets and the quality of the air we breathe, hmmm… for
most of us that is not so encouraging. But I am here to remind us all that
those are not the only sources of postnatal Qi available to us. Our clinic
director Robert Newman alludes to this when he is quoted: “If you spend enough
time with a plant, and it is your desire and your intention to learn from the
plant, it will teach you.” It is not just knowledge that a plant will impart it
is the gift of refreshment, and not just in the form of calories or nutrition,
not just in the form of medicinal qualities, but plain and simple Qi.

It often seems that wise and gifted teachers direct us to go
outdoors to a place of nature so that our knots and tensions can unwind and our
Qi flow more smoothly.It is overlooked
that there is also Qi to be gained from nature. The planet, the plants, the
animals, insects and birds all share an energy field that we often in daily
human life ignore but can access when it is needed. Just listen and you can
find it. Robert says: if you spend enough time with a plant…and that is the key
– we all have such a shortage of time, but if all your time is spent running
the treadmill of accumulation what will you wind up with? Things you can’t take
with you when the game is over.

Time spent gathering Qi from proximity to plants that are part of our
healing traditions replenishes something essential. I invite you to come to the
Learning Garden, just to be. Take time to make the acquaintance of the plants
that will be the herbs you prescribe and use yourself. It is remarkable what
they can do. When it is suggested that you take a moment to breathe, remember
that breath can also mean Qi. Take a moment to gather in Qi, to get acquainted
with the reservoirs of refreshing Qi in the garden. There is astonishing nuance
in the different plants. They are eager to meet us. I love being alive in the
company of such beings. Come to the garden and refresh your Qi.